Europe took a step towards independence from the US – or rather from the US Global Positioning System – when it launched the first test satellite for its Galileo navigation system from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 28 December.
The satellite GIOVE-A is now communicating with its ground station, and signs are that it is performing well. GIOVE-A includes the most precise rubidium atomic clock ever sent into orbit. Such clocks will allow a receiver on the ground to pinpoint its position to within a metre.
Expected to be fully operational by 2010, the €3.8 billion Galileo system will consist of…
